'I first encountered Verandah as an undergraduate student, and then as a member of the editorial team. Like many students I did not understand the value and necessity of literary anthologies until I began reading them voraciously and obsessively. We read so many articles, tweets, and messages every day, but we rarely read stanzas, poems, paragraphs or stories like the ones selected for this anthology, that call forth the world at its most mundane or absurd in one line, and at its most devastating in the next: lines and stanzas that compel you to learn them by heart. For those emerging writers reading this journal, I'm not sure enough emphasis is placed on reading the work of people that are writing around you and emerging with you. It is a generous and worthwhile undertaking and I encourage you to do it more, starting here with this anthology.' (Hayley Elliott-Ryan, Foreword introduction)
